Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Ex-IGP: Enough evidence to reopen Bala's SD2 probe

VIDEO | 1.15 min
There
is sufficient evidence to reopen the investigation into private
investigator P Balasubramaniam's second statutory declaration (SD2),
former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan said today.

"The
person involved, I think this is new evidence... If there is new
evidence then investigations should be re-opened," Musa told a press
conference in Petaling Jaya today.

He said this when asked for his evaluation whether the claim by lawyer Americk Sidhu (right) that Cecil Abraham was responsible for Balasubramaniam's second SD was enough to re-open police investigation into the matter.Malaysiakini had approached Cecil but the senior lawyer had declined to comment.

Balasubramaniam's
second SD, which disclaims his first one signed a day earlier that
links now caretaker premier Najib Abdul Razak to murdered Mongolian
national Altantuya Shaariibuu, was said to have been drafted under
duress.

Musa's successor, current IGP Ismail Omar, had said
police would not re-open the investigation if it was "something old
being said in a new way", unless there truly was new evidence.

"I
don't know what he meant when he said ‘old things said in a new way'.
But why not (re-open investigation)? There is new evidence," Musa said.On a separate matter, Musa (right in photo) noted that there had been an increased in public shootings.

“There
were random shootings in Johor Baru, people eating at a restaurant in
Penang were shot at, in Seremban, a police officer’s house was shot at, I
view this very seriously. If it’s so easy to shoot people, then we’re
becoming like Mexico,” he said.

He added this frequency of public shootings was not seen during his tenure.

Asked
if he had an explanation, he replied: “If you let illegal activities
spread, of course you will face more (gang) fights for territory until
they become emboldened that they are daring enough to attack the
police.”

“As long as activities like gambling, prostitution,
human trafficking, gangsterism, loan sharks are allowed to rule,
eventually they will not be afraid of police any more,” he added.

Musa acknowledged that there could also be weaknesses in curbing arm smuggling that led to possession of these weapons.

'Intelligence failure'

On
another matter, Musa said the police should investigate claims that
there were local politicians involved in the Lahad Datu incursion by
Filipino intruders.

“Investigation should be done, there should
be proof, just simply making accusations is inappropriate, that would be
slander,” he said.

Weighing in on the conflict, Musa said it was well-managed, albeit being delayed too long by the government.

However, he said ultimately, there was an intelligence failure that allowed the intruders to penetrate the country’s borders.

“I
don’t know if the Special Branch received any information beforehand,
but failure to act even if there is such information still counts as an
intelligence failure.

“For example, the Americans had
intelligence that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbour but
they did not believe and did not act on it, therefore there was an
intelligence failure,” he said.

Musa urged the formation of a committee to investigate how eight police officers were killed during the clashes in Sabah.

“Section
39 of the Police Act requires an investigation committee to be formed
when there is loss of life or accidents among the police force, be it on
duty or off duty or when there is loss of government property.

“This should be set up so that it will serve as a lesson and will not happen again,” he said.